Jack of All Trades
by ax546
Summary: Year6AU: After getting Fenrir Greyback to be Harry's bodyguard, they travel around the world. Harry tries his best to get stronger and become Voldemort's equal. But with Dumbledore on his tail, will he have enough time?
1. Chapter 1

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

* * *

Harry Potter sat in his bedroom, and he knew. He knew nobody would save him if Voldemort came crashing down on his house. Oh they might rescue him, but they won't save him. Sooner or later, Voldemort will find him, and since Harry has no training he will be damned. Harry clenched his fists in anger, the old Headmaster would not train him or educate him properly. That was for sure, but why? Why won't he do it. 

Then he realized. The headmaster wanted Harry to sacrifice his life, like Lily's love, to save the world. And he knew this for sure. Everything made sense. He knew it was so.

He had to do something about this. Sitting in his bedroom, listening to Petunia teach Dudley how to play Fur Elise on the piano they bought, listening to the rain plattering on the window, he decided to do something about his situation.

So what could he do? Could he train himself in magic? Yes of course, but that would take way too long and he would never have the same proficency Voldemort has with magic. Never, not in a million years. Voldemort was a genius, and Harry was just an average boy, with maybe a hard character but that wasn't worth a damn in battle. What he needed was power. A phrase came to him suddenly, "There is no good or evil, only power and those too weak to seek it." Voldemort had said this, and he was right.

Voldemort was probably one of the most powerful wizards on the planet and if this worked for him, why wouldn't it work for Harry himself? He realized it would, a startling discovery that brought him shivers. Not from the cold but from the feeling. Voldemort would call it the thirst for power.

Harry was on his way to becoming powerful.

* * *

The first thing Harry did was evaluating his situation. What he had and what he needed . He had a small fortune, and a few allies: The Weasleys, The Grangers, and the Press who were having a field day with saying how Harry struggled for the truth against bad opinion and what not. Now the press would do anything to get back on his good side. Harry grinned. He did seem to have a lot. But not enough. Never enough to beat Voldemort. 

Voldemort was the epitome of power. What did he have? A group of disciplined death eaters, an army of giants, and various other creatures. And the money. The money just kept pouring in, Harry saw from his visions his death eaters were rich and powerful, they had money, more than Harry. Much more.

Voldemort had ten times more of what Harry had. More skill, more power, more money, etc.

What he needed was to reach the level of Voldemort. Become his equal in everything, not just blood. And for that he needed power.

The first thing Harry decided to do, to focus on was to increase his skill and magical power. He would never be Voldemort's equal if he couldn't survive the summer. For that he needed tutors, he needed to be able to do magic.

Harry grinned. He knew the answer to that. He had been receiving the Daily Prophet a lot lately, free editions. Once again proof that the press wanted to get back on his good side. Leafing through it he found out that the new minister of magic, recently elected, was Rufus Scrimgoer. That was his target. A man in that position of power could do wonders for Harry and Harry, with his Boy-Who-Lived image could do wonders back.

He grabbed an old sheet of parchment, Dudley's ballpoint pen, and scribbled a quick letter. Hedwig was getting restless in her cage. This would be good exercise for her.

_Dear Mr. Scrimgoer, _

_My name is Harry Potter and I have been the target of death eater attacks all my life. I kindly request permission to do magic this summer, on accounts of this being a special case, and if possible to get tutors. I know that the minister, being much more reasonable than the last one, would readily help me out. The press would love to see the minister taking action against You-Know-Who, and if that means giving me some training, so much the better. _

_Sincerely, _

_Harry Potter. _

He folded the note and clipped it on Hedwig's leg. The Snow white owl gave Harry a twinkle in her eye that showed her pleasure, hooted, and flew out into the grey sky. Harry shut the window quietly and went back on the bed, sitting cross legged in a meditative position.

He needed to be more physically fit as well, how could he survive if he couldn't dodge spells or give a punch or two as a quick surprise attack? He needed to learn how to fight, physically.

Now he had a good sized fortune, it wouldn't be so hard to find him a private tutor. And to get out of the Dursleys. Sometimes a good offence is the best defence. And sitting here twiddling his thumbs in the Dursleys house wasn't going to help him in the long run. He needed to get out.

For that he needed a plan. He checked outside and decided to risk going out the back door. There was a slight lump in the grass below the oak tree in the front lawn. Moody would never be so lazy, not the aurors either. It must be Mundungus Fletcher. Harry grinned, this was too easy.

He packed his trunk, not before taking out his invisibility cloak of course, and put the cloak on. He grabbed Hedwig's cage in the other hand as well, and went out the back door. There he was at a loss. Should he call the night bus? No, the guards might see. He ran out the back yard and through a back alley, made a few double turns, crossed back until he was at a completely different street: Ashvale Drive. He raised his wand and cried out, "Lumos."

The night bus came almost at once, a big purple Double Decker. He climbed aboard, saw it was Stan the knight bus watch man and said, "Hi," With a big grin. His scar was purposely left open. He needed to reek in the fame, use it to a good purpose. It was now or never.

Stan was a small unassuming man, the kind who would never make it into the big leagues. The kind who, like Arthur Weasely, had no ambition. Stan's eyes widened like golf balls as he gaped. "Bloody hell! You're Harry Potter."

"Yup, how much will it be to get to Gringotts, Stan?"

"For you, nothing. I always knew Voldemort was back. Never did believe the ministry and their lies…"

Harry smiled and walked to the back. His smile widened as he heard Stan shout, "I'll take you there straight away. Express trip!"

"Harry Potter is it?" A man said, he had small eyes that looked nervously back and forth and an unshaved beard. He was big.

"Yes I am," Harry said cautiously. "Who might you be?"

"Fenrir Greyback."

Harry's blood went cold. The werewolf! The death eater werewolf who bit Remus! He decided to do something so audacious, it would completely surprise the death eater and make give him pause before attacking him.

"Hello, Mr. Greyback. I have heard of you, of course. Quite a celebrity. Would you like to join me for a cup of cocoa?"

Fenrir raised his eyebrows.

"Oi, Ned, think you can get us two cups of cocoa?" Harry said, taking the silence as a tentative yes.

Ned came from up the bus deck, gaped when he saw it was Harry Potter, and quickly brought him two cups, steaming hot, "on the house."

When Ned left, still gaping, Harry turned his attention back to Greyback who had drained the cup in one gulp.

"You really know who I am, kid?" He said incredulously.

"Yes I do. You are a werewolf, and a death eater to boot. I want to hire you as my personal trainer."

Greyback was incredulous. "What?"

"I think you will be my best bet, I want you to train me in everything you know. Dirty fighting tricks, magic, et cetera et cetara."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"No. I will pay you handsomely of course if you leave Voldemort's service and. . . join mine."

Greyback roared with laughter. "You are an idiot! A complete fool if you think that you can just walk up to me and ask me to join _you."_ He said you as if it was a curse.

"You want blood don't you?"

"I am not a vampire – a werewolf if you don't-"

"I know. I was saying figuratively."

"Why yes I do then," Greyback said proudly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, it's so much the better. You can kill as much as you want. Death eaters that is."

Greyback laughed again.

Harry's eyes turned into chips of ice. "I am not kidding, Greyback." He snarled. "I am going straight to the top, you know it, I know it, and Voldemort knows it. In ten years time, the wizarding world will be in the palm of my hand. I _will_ kill Voldemort, and once I do… I might just think of taking his place, if you know what I mean?"

Greyback gulped, looking nervous. "Look kid, I don't think you know-"

"No, you look. Once I win, you will be my top lutenient. My body guard. I will give you everything you want. More than Voldemort would ever give you. All you need to do is take the plunge." Harry stopped. Then he finished with a final sales pitch . "No risk, no gain." He shrugged and stared out the window, sipping his hot cocoa slowly.

Greyback stayed silent for sometime, then he finally said, almost as soon as the Knight Bus pulled to a stop in front of Gringotts, "Alright, kid. I'll do it."

Harry looked up at Greyback sharply. "It involves an unbreakable vow."

"How do you know about that stuff?"

"Hogwarts library."

"Okay, fine. I get it. You can't trust me right at once, you need a vow, huh?"

"Yes," Harry said simply. He turned to leave, but before he did, he looked back at Greyback. "You coming?"

"Yes," Greyback said slowly. "I think I will."

And that was how Fenrir Greyback and Harry Potter made an alliance. The first of many in Harry's rise to power.

* * *

Next chapter: 

Fenrir followed Harry like a dog, in silence. He simply watched Harry withdrawing huge amounts of money with blank unreadable eyes. Harry found it a bit uncomfortable.

* * *

review! pleeeeeeese! if you do i'll give you a big fat cookie. 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

* * *

Harry Potter was a bit scared. That was an understatement, his heart was thumping, going a hundred miles a minute, and his palms felt sweaty. He glanced quickly at Greyback and saw that the werewolf was looking very carefully at him. Harry quickly turned away. They went to the bank. Gringotts was very big, looked nice, and was run by goblins. They were small, mean, and greedy creatures, Harry always thought. He walked up to a teller, and asked, "I want to withdraw ten thousand galleons."

The goblins eyes widened. "Key, please." Harry was glad he had brought his golden key along. It would have caused problems if he hadn't.

"I have it. Right here," He said, and handed the goblin the key. The goblin took it and watched it very carefully, scrutinizing it and even biting it a bit like you would with a gold coin.

"Well then, Mr. Potter. You should know that the bank charges a ten percent fee on all withdrawals more than a thousand galleons." The goblin said.

"That's not true," Greyback said quietly. "You are being cheated Harry. The goblin interest rate is only 3.2."

The goblin didn't look abashed at all, "That's right, mr…?"

"Jimmy. His name's Jimmy." Harry said. "The money please?"

"Right away." A few minutes later an angry looking goblin came and gave Harry a sack full of jingly gold coins. Harry looked in, and closed the bag.

"You should count your money." Greyback said.

Harry nodded. "Let's go to the benches." There was a waiting area in the back corner filled with ugly purple chairs and benches that looked like Dumbledore had made them himself with his strange fashion style.

They went and sat down and carefully counted the money. Greyback stayed silent the whole time. Harry was nervous, could he trust Greyback? Could he get Greyback to make the vow? Stay calm Harry, he told himself and thought of a good plan.

"Let's go." Harry said at last. Greyback nodded. Harry took the sack and they went out the bank.

"Where to now?" Greyback asked warily. "How about Knockturne-"

"No, let's go to Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes. We can make the vow there." Harry said at once.

"The unbreakable vow, huh?"

"That's right. Having second thoughts?"

"A bit. Let's get the terms right while we walk there, shall we Harry?"

"Okay, then. The terms are simple. You train me, and protect me to the best of your ability until such a time as I can defeat Voldemort. In return I will pay you… a thousand galleons a month and when I get into a position of power I will hire you as my bodyguard permanently."

Greyback whistled. "A thousand galleons, wow."

"Yeah, you have to promise though that you will never serve Voldemort ever again."

"Deal," Greyback said at once. "I am sick of Voldemort" He shuddered "and how he always crucio's me to death. I hate him too."

"Wonderful. We are allies then." Harry said, ignoring the happy feeling inside him. He needed to be emotionless, like he was doing occlumency. He needed to _think._

"Here it is, Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes." Greyback said. "Let's go."

They entered the crowded store. Harry went straight up to the counter where Fred was. "Hey Fred, or George, whoever you are." He whispered.

Fred looked up, "Harry?" He said incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I need some help. Can we go to the back of the store?"

"Sure, let me get George. Oi George, guess who's here!"

"Keep quiet, please." Harry whispered. "I don't want people to find out that I am-" 

"Hey look, it's Harry Potter!"

Harry groaned as the whispers started and people rushed at him trying to shake his hand. "Keep back! Keep back!" Fred said and pushed Harry into the back. Greyback followed. George came too.

"Who's this?" Fred asked. Greyback grinned.

"I'm Fenrir Greyback."

The color drained from Fred and George's face as they reached for their wand. "Oh no, it's the werewolf death eater!"

"Stop, guys I need you to stop!" Harry shouted.

"What's going on Harry?"

He told them everything, how he met Greyback on the bus and how they made a deal. At the end they were weary and incredulous. "Harry, you don't understand people like this…"

"An unbreakable vow. I need you two to help me out here. Ron told me a while ago you tried to make an unbreakable vow with him. I'm sure you know."

"I know," Greyback said. "We both get on our knees and face each other, and shake hands. We make our vows and one of you taps your wand on our hands. Then the vow is done."

George nodded. "That's how it goes. I think we should do this Fred."

"Oh hell no, I'm going to inform Dumbledore!"

"Percy," Harry said quietly.

"What?"

"You are going to do a Percy aren't you? Betray your friends and tell on us…"

"No, don't do this Harry. This man is a DEATH EATER!"

"I know what he is. That's why I'm doing this. You owe me, Fred, George. You owe this to me."

"Okay, fine." Fred said, sighing. "Alright we'll do this but we are all going to regret this so bad…."

"That's fine, let's do it."

Harry and Greyback got on their knees and faced each other. They shook hands. "I promise to pay you a thousand galleons a month for training me and doing your best to protect me from any and all dangers."

Greyback nodded. "I promise to protect and train you for a thousand galleons a month."

George tapped his wand on their hands. A golden light flowed from his wand into their hands and came out on the opposite side. Gold chains formed around them, kind of transparent like it wasn't solid. It closed in around them and disappeared. "The vow is done," Fred said faintly.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life Harry."

"No, you just did the smartest thing." George said.

"Whatever," Harry said tiredly. "We need to get out of here."

"Yes, you do know that your house is being watched right?" Greyback said. Harry looked up alarmed. "What?"

"Yeah, they know you are out on the streets. Dumbledore probably knows by now too. I'm guessing you don't want him to find out about our deal."

"He will never approve." Harry said. "What do you suggest we do now? Since you are my bodyguard."

"You have ten thousand galleons. Let's go shopping."

Harry grinned. "I like how you think." He turned to Fred and George, "You two just, don't tell anyone about this okay?"

"Sure Harry." They said faintly.

"I will train with him, become stronger, and I'll pay you two a visit sometime."

"You got cheated, my man." Greyback said cheerfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Training. I have nothing to train you with, Harry."

"Sure you do, you are a death eater, and you know stuff."

"That's true, I do know things. I know where to get the best books, the best wands, the best knives. But I don't really know how to do spells or anything."

The blood drained from Harry's face. "And I am paying you a thousand galleons for this?"

Greyback nodded cheerfully. "Yes sir. But I can fight, Harry. I can protect you. You'll get your money's worth by the end of the day I think."

"What do you mean?"

"Death eaters will come to get you, don't doubt it. I'll protect you from them."

"I see. Let's get supplies first. Then we can find a place to sleep."

"Nope." Greyback said grimly. "No time for sleep. The Death Eaters gonna be pouring in. You aren't going to return to your relatives are you?"

"How do you know about the blood protection?"

Greyback shrugged. "All death eaters know about it."

Harry sighed. "This is a disaster isn't it."

"Yup, but while we are on the run you will pick up things. Gain skills. Your godfather died right? Sirius Black?"

Harry looked up sharply. "Just how do you know about that?"

"It was in the Quibbler. The point is you are gonna be all alone, with a death eater protecting you. This is just so much… FUN!" Greyback started laughing.

"Oh god," Harry cursed. "I need to become stronger, fast."

Suddenly the building started to shake. "What the hell is that?" Fred said.

"Death Eaters." Greyback said simply. "They comin' for you, Harry."

There was a lot of screaming in the front of the store. Harry opened the door a crack and looked out. There were _hundreds _of death eaters around the alley, attacking all sorts of stores.

"They know I'm here." Harry said.

"Yes they do, we need to get out of here." Greyback said.

"Where? Where the hell do we go?" Harry clenched his wands in his fist.

"Shrink your trunk, your money and let's GO." Greyback shouted, looking at the death eaters cursing the customers. Fred and George were gone, in the midst of duelling them.

"We need to help them."

"No, you idiot boy, you will get killed. My job is to keep you alive."

"Fine." Harry shrunk his trunk, "Ministry is going to get me for this," He muttered. Greyback laughed. "Not if I can help it."

"Let's go." Greyback said and pushed through the door, dragging Harry with him at almost blinding speeds as Greyback used his werewolf strength to bound through the store and out. They were just a blur. The death eaters saw them and started throwing spells at them but Greyback was dodging. Harry was awed, the werewolf's speed was… amazing. Could Remus have done this? Harry doubted it. Suddenly he was jerked up in the air. He looked down, he was thrown in the air! Thrown! Greyback was running, clawing at the death eater's faces and kicking and fighting. He had a sword in his hands, a black metal sword that he was using to cut down the troops.

Harry knew Greyback had just earned his keep as he landed and was caught deftly in Greyback's arms. "Come on, boy, Run!"

They started running down a side alley. There was a death eater, garbed in black robes, they all wore black, who sent the killing curse at them. Greyback jumped over the big curse ten feet in the air and landed on the death eater, punching at him repeatedly at blinding speeds. The death eater's mask was torn off and he was beaten to a bloody pulp. "Run, I'll catch up to you." Greyback said.

There was a lot of smoke everywhere and Harry had trouble breathing. He started to cough as he ran, and heard thumping noises behind him. Greyback had caught up. Harry gripped his wand and saw two death eaters duelling with an auror. As they passed, Harry stunned one of them on the back.

Greyback dragged him by his collar as he started yelling. "Hurry the hell up!" They passed Diagon Alley and reached a sign that said in black spidery lettering: "Knockturne Alley."

They had entered the dark alley, Greyback's territory now. 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

* * *

Harry Potter walked alongside with Fenrir Greyback and they fell into a companiable silence. Then when Harry couldn't stand it anymore he said, "What are we going to do?"

Greyback was grim, he was frowning as if thinking very hard, and he replied, "We will get us some books for you to learn from, a couple used wands, some weapons, and maybe some other trinkets or two. Depends really." He was still holding the butcher knife. The knife was dripping red blood. Harry stared at it nervously.

"Do you think death eaters will continue to chase us?" He asked.

"Oh sure they will. But you got me on your side, the meanest baddest werewolf around."

"Yeah, big relief." Harry said. "But what are we going to do after?"

"After the shopping?" Greyback said, looking around the dark street. There was nobody around. It was empty.

"Yeah." Harry said. "What are we going to do after?"

"I was thinking we should get out of the country. The death eaters are mainly in Britain, so how does France sound?"

Harry shrugged. "You are the bodyguard."

Greyback grinned, "I like you kid, now fetch me your bag of gold."

Harry took out his trunk from his pocket and unshrunk it. The trunk expanded. He opened it right there in the middle of the street and took out his sack of gold. "How much do we need?"

"You have ten thousand galleons. Holy crap kid," Greyback said amazed as he grabbed the bag. He carefully counted and took out a thousand galleons. "This is for me." He said simply and took out another thousand galleons. "This is for our supplies." Then he took out another thousand galleons. At Harry's raised eyebrow he said, "Travelling money." He handed the bag back to Harry.

"Come on, there's nobody here in these parts. We need to get further in. Nothing but bums out here."

Sure enough an old lady, wizened and wrinkled wearing dirty rags came out of a hidden alley. "Please sir, I need food," She begged. Harry looked straight ahead and tried not to notice her. Greyback did the same.

She left without a word, and Harry felt a pang of sadness go through him before remembering he was in a tighter situation than she was. "Where are we going?" He asked as they walked.

"There's a store run by one of my friends, called the Dirty Parchment. It's full of used books. That's where we headed first." Greyback said and turned to a side alley. Harry followed his que and noticed how much dirt was around. Knockturne was truly a haven for the dirty.

"Here it is, come on Harry. He is trustworthy," Greyback said and ushered Harry in to a small hut like store with tainted black windows. There were rows and rows of shelves and books sprawled all over the place. It reminded him of Olivanders.

A pale looking man came out from behind one of the stacks. "Fenrir?" He asked, "What you doing here? You never come here of all places."

"This aint for me, this is for my friend right here." Greyback said. "So Greggory, show me some books willya."

"Okay, what kind of books." Greggory said cautiously. "What ones do you want, kid?"

Harry gave him a sharp stare and said coldly, "Dark kinds."

Greyback chuckled, "Goes right after me doesn't he?"

"You never read, Fenrir, so I am going to have to say no."

Greyback grumbled in distaste, "Reading's for wimps anyways."

"Right," Greggory said sarcastically. "Of course. Now kid, you don't want to be messing around with dark arts."

"Yes I don't want to be messing around with them, I want to learn them."

Greggory gave a light chuckle, "Greyback's right, you are something huh?"

Harry said nothing. Greggory shifted uncomfortably and went to get some books. Greyback was also looking a bit uncomfortable. Harry was excited though, inside him he felt a joyous kind of outpouring. He was going to get one step closer on his path to power. One step after another.

"Here," Greggory said, handing Harry a stack of books. "That will be three galleons each right there. Those are my best ones for beginners."

Harry counted the books, there were four of them. He nodded to Greyback who paid the man. "I'll see you for some drinks tonight later, allright?" Greggory said to Greyback.

Greyback shook his head, "I'm on a job, Greg. No can do."

They walked out of the store. "Where to now, Fenrir?" Harry asked. Greyback said, "We got the books. You can read them on your own and study them. That counts as training right?"

"It's not all you can do. You said something about weapons…"

"Right of course. I guess I could give you a few fencing lessons." Greyback said. "It's going to cost you though."

"I don't care about the money, I have a few ideas on how to get more if we need to anyways."

"Ten thousand was all your account had, Harry. You can hire me for only a few months at most. And I'm telling you, I wish it could be longer. I mean this kinda career is pretty fun, no kneeling down in front of bony old wizards or saying my lord all the time."

"I am telling you, Greyback, I can get more." Harry said firmly. "Just trust me will you?"

"Alright," Greyback shrugged. "Not my money, so whatever kid."

"And stop calling me that."

Greyback chuckled as he led Harry into another shop. The whole street seemed crowded with shops, much more than Diagon Alley. What was strange was that nobody was around.

This shop, in contrast to the last one was gigantic and well lit. There seemed to be three people, all customers, surveying the swords that hung on the shelves, and the axes, bows, arrows and even guns. This shop had everything in the way of weapons.

"How many weapons do you know how to use?" Harry asked. Greyback looked around for a bit and then said at last, "All of them."

"Then we need to buy all these weapons. All of them." Harry grinned as Greyback turned to Harry, startled. "That's going to take you at least two thousand galleons."

"Expensive but worth it," Harry said.

"At this rate you are only going to have me for a month." Greyback grumbled. He went to the store owner, a sharply dressed French man who wore round glasses, and said, "Jean, I need to do some hefty purchasing, if you know what I mean?"

Jean sighed. "What did you break this time?" He said in a french accent that Harry thought was a bit over the top.

"Nothing, my friend here however wants to buy every type of weapon in the store. I am sure you can give him a discount, right Jean?"

Jean brightened immediately doing an about face like a light bulb. "Marvelous, really marvelous!" He said and went off at once, pulling this and that weapon off the racks. Harry tried them all and found the best fit for all of them. It took a few hours, in which Greyback made a few suggestions and bought an extra knife for himself too. The total price made a big dip in his sack of gold.

After they walked out, with shrunken bags of weapons and books, Harry said, "Now for the trinkets right?"

"No, no time," Greyback said urgently. His mouth was in a tight smile, very strained. "Death eaters are coming, I can feel them."

"What?" Harry asked, "What did you say?"

"DEATH EATERS ARE COMING! WE NEED TO RUN!" Greyback grabbed Harry's arm and started running. "Come on, there's an entrance to Muggle London around here, we gotta hurry."

They ran at top peed and Harry heard cries of pain behind him. Pain from Crucio and Avada Kedavras. The Death Eaters were here in their black cloaks and white masks. They were attacking furiously, they had moved from Diagon Alley to Knockturne Alley.

Harry and Greyback went down a side alley where Greyback furiously tapped the bricks with his wand. The wall opened up into a shady looking bar. It was not the leaky cauldron, some other bar. Greyback dragged Harry across the crowded room and out the door, into the bright sunlight.

Outside Harry could hear the death eaters' footsteps chasing them. It seemed they had saw he was here after all.

Greyback and Harry ran even harder, "We need to get to the train station," Greyback roared. Harry nodded and ran even faster.

The death eaters had stopped a while behind them and were attacking the muggles. Harry felt a bit bad at not defending the poor muggles who could do nothing but cry in pain and humiliation but survival instinct and Greyback's urgings won over. They made it to the train station in record time. The station was very crowded, filled with an assortment of people of all types and varieties. Greyback worked fast.

He checked the list of trains going to the docks, that's where they were headed, and bought the tickets out of his own money. They waited in tense silence, looking around for any death eaters who had stumbled over to the train station. The train came soon and Harry and Greyback boarded in, headed for the docks and from there it was decided that they would go to France.

…Where they would buy a huge mansion and set Harry to training right away…

* * *

review!! 


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

* * *

Harry Potter sat in the empty compartment seat on those red leather benches, watching the scenery go past. Greyback sat opposite him, his hands folded together as if he was shaking hands with himself, deep in thought. The train was the Cannes 401, going straight to New Hampshire Docks. It was about a four hour long journey, and as Harry listened to the steady chugy chug of the train, he fell into a drowsy sleep, not quite a complete sleep but a half sleep that one gets when they are under anaesthesia in the hospital, or in Harry's case, something like the imperius curse.

As they went on he thought about his day and was wowed by it. He had done so much, and had gotten a new ally. But could this new ally be trusted? Greyback didn't exactly have a spotless record, being a death eater and all. And Greyback had also bitten Remus. Harry felt a bit guilty about hiring him. There was a more pressing problem however, when was Greyback's transformation into a werewolf? There was an even more pressing problem, he was going to be out of money at the rate he was spending. Things were expensive these days.

The train journey was quite boring, and the two passed the time mostly in mediation and sleep, just thinking of the previous day. They reached the New Hampshire Docks at about 9 o clock in the evening, and Harry despite having a nap already, was dead tired. Greyback also looked weary.

On the docks, not really on the water but pretty close by it, Greyback got them some tickets for a boat that went straight to the island of Alba, and from there they could catch a ferry to France, provided of course they had passports. Greyback had muggle cash, and he said that was enough for now.

"We can forge passports with magic, I've done it loads of times. I'll show you how later," Greyback told him as they got on the boat. The S.S Mary was an old freighter, mostly used for transporting barrels of oil. It had a white hull, and brown, dirt spotted sails. There was also a motor but the crew didn't use it much in the summer because Britain had a lot of stormy weather in the summer.

"Do you think the death eaters will attack us while we are on the boat?" He asked Greyback, who handed the two pink colored tickets to the man dressed in the navy's traditional blue uniforms.

"Let's think they will. It never hurts to be paranoid. I'll show you how to use a knife for starters tonight, and tomorrow while we are on Alba I'll teach you how to use a sword."

"Any time for sleep?"

"No," Greyback said eagerly, a smile on his face. "Drink bucket loads of coffee, m'man. That will get you through the month, hopefully."

"You are pretty sure I won't have enough galleons to pay you for another month, huh Greyback?" Harry said. They were both seated, once again facing each other in a small dingy compartment as the boat rocked gently back and forth.

"Harry, you don't realize the value of a thousand galleons do you?" Greyback asked, amused. "This will be enough for a wizard's retirement, Harry. I will protect you for a month, then I am off to America, or maybe the Carribeans for my long awaited vacation. You hear me boy?"

"I can get more," Harry said. "I just know I can."

"Look kid, I don't believe a little squirt like you can get a sickle much like a thousand galleons. You must be out of your mind."

"I am Harry Potter, you know. Boy who lived and-"

"Right, but don't let it get to your head, huh?" Greyback said sarcastically. He looked more like a wolf than ever, with his long grey hair, and bright eyes, and wolf like smile.

"You'll see." Harry said calmly.

"Okay, then. Whatever you say, boss. But I am willing to protect you for a month-"

"And train me," Harry said.

"Yes, and train you as well. With whatever I have at my disposal. I am yours for a month, only that much time, unless you can cough up some more money."

"Are you going back to Voldemort after your month is up?" Harry asked.

"Hmm?" Greyback frowned. "Know what, no. I don't think so. He's nothing but a fruitcake, no way I am going back to him."

Harry grinned. At least he had gotten one death eater out of Voldemort's service. That was worth the thousand galleons. Then something occurred to him. "When are you going to do the werewolf transformation? The full moon?"

Greyback stayed silent for a long moment. "In five days time. We will get settled in, and then I'll lock myself up somewhere and. We'll think of this later alright?"

"Okay," Harry said. "Why not. I think I will look through some of these books right here."

"Good idea. It's going to be a long journey."

Harry unshrunk his trunk and got out his bag of books. He unshrunk them with a wave of his wand, glad for the charms lessons with Flitwick, and started looking at the titles:

GUIDE TO ADVANCED POTIONS 

****

**_DARK CURSES AND THEIR COUNTERS _**

****

**_DUELLING – HOW TO WIN _**

****

**_HISTORY OF THE DARK ARTS _**

****

**_DIFFERENT TYPES OF MAGICKS – MUSIC, ARTS, MATHEMATICAL, ETC. _**

****

The books seemed interesting, Harry thought. He opened the history of the dark arts first and started reading it for the rest of the journey. The book was about two hundred pages all printed on an early form of the printing press on thin brown pages that seemed to tear easily, and was very light. The print was also a faint black so Harry had to squint to read it. Basically it was about Salazar Slytherin and how he discovered dark magic during his intense studies. He developed the rituals that gave him the ability to do parseltongue and invented all sorts of different spells that did horrible things. There was a blood transfuser spell that sucked the victim's blood out of his or her body. There was a spell that made people's teeth rot out. Salazar was also very gifted in potions – he invented potions that made his intellect sharper, increased his concentration and meditation which led to the development of occlumency and legilemency and he also invented all sorts of instruments of an astronomical nature: telescopes, scaled models of the universe, things like that.

Harry was awed. Voldemort had most of these skills being Salazar's heir and all, and now he knew just what he was facing up against, a genius of the highest capability. How could he compete? He felt his will start to shake and crumble and all those insecurities he had done his best to burry came back again ferociously.

"How can I kill Voldemort like this," Harry thought. He drifted back to the meeting in Dumbledore's office last year – how he had argued with him, and how the old man had told him the prophecy. Perhaps Dumbledore was right after all, perhaps he needed some kind of unknown power.

No, don't think like that. He admonished himself. This kind of thought got Sirius killed. Forget about the prophecy and your inferiority. All you need to concentrate on is becoming stronger, and to survive.

As he drifted off to sleep, lulled into a sense of security by the gentle rocking of the boat, his last thought was to get better at everything related to magic – and that included potions.

A few hours later, Greyback was shaking him on his shoulder, saying, "Wake up Harry we are here." Harry blinked groggily and woke up, rubbing his eyes with his fists. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"Alba, we are here. The island of Alba known for its corn industries. Oh god, finally." Greyback gushed as he pulled Harry to his feet. "No fucking death eaters here, but they gonna come, give it time."

"Yea, but I have you to protect me." Harry said as he shook his legs and tried to get the blood back in his sleepy feet.

"Don't rely on me all the time, you gotta be independent, Harry m'man." Greyback said. "How else will ya learn? Now come on, we gotta get off this piece of shit boat."

"We need passports remember?" Harry said. Greyback stopped at once and turned around, wide eyed.

"That's right. Give me your wand, Harry?"

"What?"

"Your wand, I need to use it." Greyback said as he held out his husky hand.

"Okay," Harry said warily, watching very carefully as he handed his wand to Greyback. What are you doing Harry? He will take the wand and curse you, what the hell did you do? A deep part of his mind was screaming at him. Harry watched even closer. Greyback noticed this and chuckled.

"Getting paranoid, are we?" He said as he conjured them two life-like passports and handed the wand back to Harry.

"Yes, I find it helps me survive." Harry said simply and pocketed his wand. He took one of the passports and marvelled at the detail. He could see the bristles of his face perfectly. "This looks… good."

"I've always been a good artist," Greyback boasted. "Now come on, we have to take another ship to France."

They walked up the deck and down the ship to the docks. The passengers paid no heed to them, obsessed in their own lives. Alba looked deserted, and Harry could smell a scent of manure and shit. Lots of shit. But it was a pleasant perfumy scent mixed in with corn, and wildlife. This looked like a good rural area, someone like Vernon Dursley or Petunia might like this place.

They walked side by side, looking almost like father and son, around the dock toward the leasing office where they got two new tickets to Cannes, France, after showing their forged passports. The only thing wrong with it, Harry noticed was that it was too lifelike. The names had not been changed. The death eaters could find them easily enough by checking the records. Harry felt a bolt of suspicion go through him as he watched Greyback carefully. The man seemed at ease.

They bought a couple hot dogs as they waited for their ferry. Greyback paid with his own muggle money, saying simply, "You owe me for this." Greyback seemed to have a lot of money on him. As they walked, Harry read his history of dark magic book, and found out a bit more about another wizard: Merlin.

Merlin was quite the scholar, and studied everything, including the dark arts. Later on he would confess that he felt joy and happiness at learning this trade, but that was when he was a young and curious boy. He studied many different magicks including: Voodoo, Runes and Traps, Enchantments, Mind influencing drug like potions of which he tested on himself, and he studied how to put life into inanimate objects, the basis for transfiguration that we all learn today.

It went on about the different magicks Merlin learned and detailed into them. Harry decided to take notes. He went to a stationary store and bought a yellow paged legal pad and a few cheap ballpoints and took small, careful notes that Hermoine would be proud of. Greyback glanced disapprovingly at the books, "Not the best source of knowledge. The only thing worth learning is hands on knowledge, Harry. Like sword fighting and duelling. Once we get to a safe place I'm gonna work you ragged, I swear to god."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Harry replied as they heard the bell sounds of the ship (The E.M Limbrook, a marine vessel that wasn't used in the army anymore) coming into the dock.

"Here's our ride," Greyback said and got up. Harry followed obediently, trunk in pocket, book in hand, legal pad in the other, wand in the back pocket. They got in the ship with no hassle after showing their tickets and this time were seated in a public compartment crowded to the brim with people. Greyback looked distinctly uncomfortable, while Harry took a corner spot and continued to read about Merlin's dark arts adventures.

* * *

No reviews? Guess my work just isn't good enough... 


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

* * *

Harry Potter was bored. While Alba was fine and all, being a cornfield so large that it warranted being called an island, and a big one too, it was also boring. And deserted. There were hardly anyone out, so it was with some relief that Greyback and Harry boarded the new ship that would take them to France. The southern tip of France to be exact, a little island called Cannes. The land of the beaches and the babes. Greyback had chosen this place. 

"Nobody will think of you going to a tropical beach, m'man," He said cheerfully. "And it will give me a chance to get a tan."

"This is not a vacation you know," Harry said, a bit annoyed. "You have to train me and keep an eye out for the death eaters."

"Sure, kid. Whatever you say." Greyback said grinning and it got on Harry's nerves. For most of the trip Harry stayed silent, reading his book while Greyback became more and more fidgety, talking about (and not noticing Harry wasn't listening) what he would do when he got to Cannes.

Mercifully the trip wasn't long. It was long enough however. Two hours listening to Greyback's chatter was enough to drive anyone insane. They loaded up on the docks, and while getting out of the ship they were checked by customs. Harry heard the fat lady at the desk mutter as if in a curse, "English folks!"

Harry frowned and bit back his knee jerk response to defend his homeland. He took Greyback's queue, stayed as still as a statue, and listened. Actually listened to the bustle and tussle of the dock. He found it interesting, other people had lives of their own, much more stress free then Harry's. He felt a little sting of envy and crushed it at once, and concentrated hard on his goal.

He had to become stronger to defeat Voldemort and he was already on his way. "Lets go to the plaza, Fenrir." Harry said.

"Plaza?" Greyback asked, confused.

"Yeah, to find a place to rent. A big one so you can teach me all your tricks."

"Oh sure, and then the beach." Greyback said, his eyes lit up. "Oh, this is gonna be so much fun."

"Right," Harry said. "You have to teach me first."

"We can do that on the beach, m'man. Now let's get this renting business dealt with, then we'll go shopping and buy us some swim trunks, waddaya say?"

"Sure, why not." Harry said. It sounded like fun. "I'll bring a book, we can train on the beach I guess."

"You're going to have quite the tan, Harry." Greyback said as they walked along. The plaza was the main town square, it said on the map of Cannes that this was where most of the stores were located. "You should get contacts, yuh know?" Greyback said, "It will help and will be much better than those cumbersome glasses."

"Alright. We need muggle money," Harry said. "To get our supplies and get a house."

Greyback frowned. "There might be a Gringotts around here, I visited this place when I was a kid you know. Twenty years ago."

"You're sure there's a Gringotts here?" Harry asked, wide eyed. "I thought they were only in England."

"Oh sure, they are everywhere." Greyback said, chuckling. "You're so ignorant of our world, m'man. The minute I saw you I knew that they could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge all your life, over and over and you would never find out."

"What does that mean?"

"You are gullible because you are ignorant. You should… read more." Greyback said, smirking. Harry glowered. "Whatever," He said shrugging. They stopped in front of a huge brown billboard filled with slips and adds. Things like "Washer and Dryer for sale," Or even better, "Homemade computer – 2000 pounds." Harry always wanted a computer. This seemed interesting.

"Hey how much is a galleon in muggle money."

"About ten pounds I think," Greyback said. Harry gaped. "Bloody hell I'm giving you ten thousand a month?"

Greyback chuckled, "I was wondering when you would catch on." Harry was still gaping. "Bloody hell… Bloody hell…" He muttered.

"Okay, let's see, the ministry ads should be about here somewhere."

"They put adds on muggle billboards?"

"Sure, we all do. Look here, 'colored socks – ten pounds each', what do you think of that?" Greyback asked, as he ripped the sheet out of the billboard.

Almost at once a new sheet appeared to replace it. Harry gaped. "This is the ministry add?"

"Yup," Greyback said cheerfully, "And look here's the phone number we need to call to get the address of their business districts." Indeed there was contact information, Harry saw.

"This is… just something." Harry muttered. They went to a payphone where Greyback deposited a franc – he seemed to have a lot of cash – and Greyback talked on it for a bit. He hung the phone up and they took a cab to a place called, "THE FAMOUS GREY" a dingy old bar whose only claim to fame was their antiqueness. When they entered not many customers were there.

"Welcome!" An exuberant young waiter said, her hair was purple, it reminded him of Tonks. "Can I take your order?"

"Ya, whatever's your special." Greyback said at once, eying her up and down. She had all the curves in all the right places, Harry noted, appreciatingly.

"A billistroni soup, a cheeseburger, and a can of pepsi. For two?" They nodded.

"Coming right up," She said. She had a brilliant smile Harry noticed, as he ate his food. When they finished lunch, Greyback said, "Lets get to where we are going shall we?" He didn't really think the woman was a muggle but he was taking no chances.

"Sure," Harry said, "Bye." He called out to the woman who was now wiping the counters and tabletops.

They went out the back, in a dark and dirty alleyway that had garbage cans and their contents littered all over the place, moss on the brick layered walls and a stench of dead things. Harry pinched his nose with one hand, "This is disgusting."

Greyback agreed. They went to the end of the alleyway where Greyback stopped. "The combination to enter the wizarding world is the same everywhere. Remember that. Gimme your wand."

"Where's yours?" Harry asked. "I've never seen you with one before."

"I lost mine to the death eaters that attacked us at Diagon Alley." Greyback said. "Hurry up we have things to do. I am a very busy man."

Harry handed his wand without another complaint. Greyback took it and said, "Now observe very carefully. This is the combination." He tapped the bricks methodically. "You got it?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "I got it."

"Good, now let's go." The wall had opened up revealing a sunny street. Wizards and Witches hurried around with bags and cauldrons tucked under their arms, an old hag was begging in the corner of the street and held her ragged arm out.

"Some gold please?" She asked pitifully.

Harry felt a hint of remorse and dug into his pockets. Greyback grabbed his arm and shook his head, wordlessly saying, "No, hurry up." They passed her, Harry looked back and saw her glaring at him with intense hate.

"Weird," He thought to himself. They went to the House Commons, a real estate office for magical persons, the sign said. The building itself was quite large, two stories tall and had little elegantly designed windows on the red brick walls. When they entered Harry smelt a faint scent of perfume. The whole office was carpeted in green, and the walls were painted a dull yellow. There was a large red desk in front of the living room – the office was really a house – and behind it sat the fattest woman Harry ever saw.

She had rose colored cheeks, no doubt from make up, and bright blue eyes, and curly golden hair. She was dressed in one of those party dresses that looked rich but were really cheap imitations. She held a fountain pen in one hand and was scribbling something in a notebook.

Greyback coughed his throat. "Excuse me, miss. I need a place to stay, can I see your rental list?"

She looked up, her eyes narrowed. "Werewolf," She sneered. "Sure we have a few places that might-"

Greyback's grey eyes turned ice cold as he took out the butcher knife in his back pocket. "Listen up lady," He said coldly over the fat lady's screams. "I want a GOOD house. You are going to give me a GOOD house or somebody is going to get hurt, you understand?"

The lady nodded her head, "I am going to haul you in to the ministry for this," She said under her breath. Greyback heard with his sharp werewolf ears.

"Is that so? No I don't think so because I have a couple friends of mine, see, who HATE it when a fellow werewolf gets picked on. And they have a big bite, you get my meaning?"

The color drained from her face. She nodded her head slowly, deliberately, "Okay sir." She said, gulping. "The house, right." Her voice was cracking. Harry was awed by Greyback. He hadn't known he could be this scary. He had seen the werewolf fight, that had been amazing in itself, but Greyback's influence and dealing. . . He was glad he hired someone like him to be his body guard.

"Well here's the list. Pick what you like," She said, giving a nervous chuckle. Greyback snatched the list and held it in his big beefy hands, crumpling it a bit. He grabbed the pen she was holding and circled a line that Harry saw said, "Five bedroom, Two bathroom, thirty acre backyard in secluded location. Rent: 1000 galleons a month."

"We will take this one," Greyback said.

She nodded her head and got up, "I'll go get the keys. Normally this process would take about a week but…" She trailed off looking at Greyback's fierce eyes. "I can do it now," She said weakly.

"Do it."

She went to the back and Harry heard a few jingling sounds as she retrieved a batch of golden looking keys. After handing Greyback the keys, she ripped a page out of her notepad and scribbled down the address. "Here you go. That will be all. We are closed now, so bye!" She said, practically screaming.

Greyback smirked, nodded once and did an about face turn like he was in the military and marched out. Harry followed. "Wow, that was pretty scary, Fenrir." Harry said, amazed.

"Well thank you very much," Greyback said. He looked pleased with himself. "Now can you apparrate?"

Harry shook his head. Greyback snarled in annoyance, "Just what the bloody hell do they teach you in Hogwarts."

Harry didn't answer as Greyback grabbed his wand and clenched his shoulder with his left arm. "Brace yourself," Greyback said and apparrated them out with a solid pop.

Harry felt himself being squeezed through a tube the size of his wand. He started screaming, feeling a burning sensation all around his body. Then they landed at once with a pop like the toast was done. They landed on a green field. The grass came up to their knees. The sun shone on their heads. "Where are we?" Harry said.

"Home," Greyback curtly replied and pointed at a big looking house. It was three stories high, and next to it there was a lake. On the other side a Quidditch Pitch. "Let's see the owners, eh Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry said smiling. "We got us our house."

They walked steadily side by side toward the house almost carefree. Inside they knew that the death eaters hadn't given up on them, and Voldemort would only send more death eaters when he would learn that Greyback had defected. The threat loomed above their heads like the sun, ready to burn them. It was quite a feeling of impending doom, but at least Harry was in a better position than he had been before in the Dursleys. There he wouldn't get stronger at all. Here he had a chance.

----

Meanwhile Dumbledore found out about Harry's escape. 


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

* * *

Greyback knocked twice on the hardwood door before it opened, revealiving a skinny looking woman with sharp cat eyes and wrinkles all over her face. She was obviously old, and rich if her robes were anything to go buy. They looked pure gold and she had dabs of make up all over her face, making her look lavish to say the least. It disgusted Harry.

"Excuse me ma'am, My name is Mr Lawson," Greyback lied, politely. "I want to rent your house, if possible."

She sniffed and held her nose high like Narcissa Malfoy had, Harry remembered, when they were at the Quidditch World Cup. "Oh really? Do you have the money for this place? I am going to be going on a safari trip to Africa and I'd like a bit of cash flowing in from this old place." She had a French accent, like Fleur the veela woman but this one was certainly no veela.

"Oh sure," Greyback said, smiling widely. "How much?"

"Ten thousand galleons a month, if you please."

Greyback shook his head, chuckling slightly. "No really, how much?"

She glowered, flushing just a tiny bit. "Ten thousand you buffoon. Don't you understand simple English?"

Greyback grimaced, "Look lady, ten thousand aint the right price for this. Maybe a hundred galleons a month, but that's about all I'd pay for. Especially for some piece of shit like this."

She leapt back, shocked. "How dare you? I'll have you know that this mansion has been in my family for four thousand years!"

Greyback raised his eyebrows, "What?" He said incredulously.

"Yes, in fact ten thousand is too little. I want a hundred thousand."

"I see," Greyback said, getting a cunning glint in his eye. "Okay how long are you going to be away exactly?"

"For the rest of the year," She replied. "You are going to rent my house?"

"Sure am, I realize now how valuable this place is. But I can't pay cash upfront yuh know?"

"But I need the cash!" She whined.

"Well I can't pay it upfront. Tell you what, you go on your trip and when you come back-"

"No! I know what you are trying to do, you barbarian. You're going to cheat me, a poor widow, out of her rightful fortune aren't you…"

Harry tuned her out as he suddenly got an idea. He took out his wand from his back pocket, aimed it at her face so suddenly that she stopped mid sentence and said as clearly as he could, "Imperio."

Greyback gasped. The woman screeched. Then suddenly she went silent almost at once. Harry's eyes were clenched shut as if he was concentrating on some inner battle. He was actually – forcing his will on another was never easy especially when it was your first time. But Harry concentrated and he did have experience under this spell. The woman had a weak will, so it was especially easy for a beginner. Harry's face relaxed as he opened his eyes.

"It worked," He said, wide eyed. "It really bloody worked."

"Boy, you have no idea what you just did."

And he really didn't. Something came over him, a dark feeling – the woman reminded him of Petunia Dursley and Harry just wanted her to shut the hell up. A force came over him, an urge, a really intense desire. Almost without thinking he had reached for his wand and zap. This happened before too when he cast the crucatius curse on Bellatrix Lestrange. The same feeling had leapt upon him, but he knew he wasn't being controlled or possessed. He had felt the imperius curse and resisted it especially well, he had felt Voldemort possessing him, and that really hurt but he didn't feel any pain right now. No, as much as Harry would have liked to deny it this feeling came from within.

But it had worked. It had actually worked! Harry was still astonished, he had thought it would be hard, but maybe the woman was just especially weak willed. Greyback was looking surprised, maybe at his nerve or at his ability. He didn't know.

Now it was time to order the woman around. Harry looked into her grey eyes and stared past her, within her almost, and said mentally, each word a resolute bang like a trumpet: "Get out of here and tell nobody what happened."

She nodded her head once, looking blank, and walked past them. She kept walking far away and Harry and Greyback watched in silence as she disappeared in the distance. "Oh sheet, kid. Oh sheet," Greyback said. His 'shit' was 'sheeeeet' as if he had just witnessed a monkey doing the tango. . . Or the goody goody Gryffie casting a dark curse, Harry thought with some satisfaction.

"Let's get inside," Harry said finally. Greyback nodded and followed. Inside, the house was very neat. Another resemblance to Petunia. It was absolutely spotless, and the furniture was also glowing, like it was new. The carpets were very soft, Harry noticed at once, and a nice rosy color. The walls were a pale white. There was a round staircase going up, like in one of those Elizabethan hotels. They walked into the living room, marvelling at the size of the house. The living room was like a quidditch pitch, almost. It stretched on for a _long _time. There were about four sofas, six armchairs, a huge wide screen T.V, various accessories like old tea cups in a glass cupboard, a giant fan overhead whirling about and cooling the room, a freezer most likely filled with drinks of the alchoholic variety, and what struck Harry as really insane was the pictures on the walls. There were hundreds of them on almost every spot of the wall, so much so that it looked as if the walls were paintings and there were square white spots scattered around – stains. This place was if anything else, really expensive.

Greyback whistled. "A hundred thousand, I can see where she got that figure."

Harry's face turned into a smirk, as he thought up an idea. "See, I told you I would get us more money."

"Oh bloody hell," Greyback said, whirling around. "You aren't actually going to-"

"I am and I will. The paintings alone must be…"

"Oh sheet!" Greyback said, laughing hard. "Oh man, this is too much. This is fucking great. We got the beach, we got the money, we got the-"

"Death eaters," Harry finished grimly. "Remember I am in danger, okay? So are you, because once Voldemort learns that you are here…"

Greyback sobered up at once, "You are right kid. Voldemort is-" He shuddered as he said the name "-going to go all out on you once he finds out you are not living with your blood aunt any more."

"We need to train. You have to teach me how to wield weapons, Fenrir. Now." Harry said firmly. "They could come any time, I need to be ready, to be prepared."

"Oh but can't we go to the beach for a bit-"

"No," Harry said angrily. "No, they are after me! Don't you fucking understand that?"

"Alright kid, alright, take a deep breath," Greyback muttered. "Okay fine, let's see if we can find an empty room. I'll show you how to use a sword or something."

They spent the next hour exploring the house in silence, and found to their silent delight a swimming pool, an air conditioner for the upstairs, a pool table that stretched from wall to wall, a gigantic chess set that filled a whole room, and finally a yoga studio. There were mats on the floor. "That woman must have been a millionaire," Greyback said. "Holy cow…"

"We are the millionaires now," Harry said. Greyback grinned.

"That's right," Greyback said as they unshrunk the trunks and the weapons. "We are the rich ones now, for the first time in my life, I'm fucking rich!"

"Right. Now the training…?"

"Okay, sure." He cleared his throat. "I got a speech right here." He said taking a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Made it on the boat. You mind?"

Harry shook his head, "Whatever."

Greyback cleared his throat again, "Okay, first of all the reason why we wizards don't use muggle guns is because they just fucking suck. A kiddie first year could defend against those toys. All you need is the protego charm and then you are good to go. So that's why, no guns."

Harry nodded, "I see," He said. "We have to use swords and stuff instead."

"That's exactly right," Greyback said and took a time out from his speech to lay all the weapons in a row. "Okay first one here is the sword. Easy to learn, hard to master. All you have to do is use the pointy side to poke people. There is more of course, defending, retreating, but you don't need to know that stuff now. The next one is my favourite, the butcher knife. It's good to use in close combat especially if you have werewolf speed like I do. The next one is the crossbow, pretty useless unless-"

"Hagrid uses that." Harry said.

"Who?"

"The games keeper at Hogwarts. He-"

"Oh sure it's good if you're hunting animals but fighting against wizards is entirely different. Now the only reason we bought it was because you insisted, and I'll teach you if you want, but the bow is pretty useless if you ask me." Greyback said. "Now, here we have the shuriken. Throwing stars, like those ninjas stuff. Knives are better to throw, but hey this could be used as a distraction. You know the cloning spell right?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope."

"Well I'll teach it to you. The only spell I'm really good at. Anyways you clone about a hundred of these, stuff 'em in a bag and when you are in a fight just throw it on their faces."

"That will work?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Sure will. I've used them before when I was learning my weapons. Can't really throw them very good. You need a lot of practice for that. But if you stuff the things in a bag…" He trailed off with a vicious smirk on his face. Then he coughed, and said, "Right back to the speech." He checked his piece of parchment, there was a hastily scribbled speech written on it, and continued.

"Here we have throwing knives. Accuracy is really important or these knives are pretty useless but I suppose it could work as a good distraction. Just chuck it at them and they will duck, guaranteed." Greyback rubbed his chin. "Okay for this, I don't really know…"

"It's a really sharp boomerang," Harry said, stating the obvious. "Just chuck it at them?"

"Right you are, Harry." Greyback said cheerfully. "You could do it for any weapon. Just chuck it at the enemy and you got a distraction."

"You are so fucking useless…" Harry said, annoyed.

Greyback chuckled. "Little Potty has a potty mouth, huh?" Greyback went back to the start of the row and picked up the sword: It was narrow, shiny and had a pointy tip. He picked it up, and held out his hand.

Harry sighed and gave him his wand. "Here, better return it."

"You know I always do." Greyback said and waved the wand over the sword in a circular motion. "Capicashuz." He said and the sword doubled, there were two swords now. "Pretty cool trick huh?" Greyback said, throwing one of the swords at Harry.

Harry caught it clumsily. Greyback looked at the wand and tossed it to the side. "No wands, swords only," He said. "Ready Harry?"

"Ya sure, I'm-" Harry's eyes widened as Greyback started charging. "Wait! Wait! I'm not ready! hold on!" Greyback kept charging. Their swords clashed. They spent the rest of the day fencing. In the evening Harry had bruises all over his body and was really exhausted but Greyback stayed energetic and upbeat all day. They slept hard that night.

----

That day Voldemort found out that Harry had left his relatives – and that Greyback was his new bodyguard.

The race was on – who would get to Harry first, Dumbledore or Voldemort?


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was a very busy man. He was walking down Diagon Alley, waving to people passing by – he knew almost everyone by name – and headed to Gringotts. As head Mugwump and head of Wizengamot, the finances were the most important part of the job. Wizards, witches, and all magical creatures paid their taxes and it was one of Dumbledore's many jobs to collect, organize, and make finance plans for the Wizengamot. The Alley was unusually crowded, no doubt they knew Albus was coming today. He always came every first Sunday of the month. And he had a powerful presence as well, radiating good charm, cheer and hope if the smiles on people's faces were anything to go by. They were having fun, light in dark times. Eating ice cream from Florence and Bolts, reading books, running around playing tag (the kids did this, but a few eccentric grown ups joined as well) and generally having the time of their life.

Voldemort was far from their minds. On Albus's however, it was the first thing on his mind. He was a very peaceful person, believing and studying deeply in Zen and the arts of meditation. That was really what made his spells so strong, what made his occlumency shields so fortified, what made Voldemort fear him. His power of concentration. Once that brilliant blue eyes would land on an object, it wouldn't leave Albus's mind. He could conjure that object in his head with ease, making it look sharp and lifelike. He had an astounding memory, remembering spells he had read about and learned over a century ago when he was just a little boy, a genius boy, but a little boy just the same.

Finances and accounting was another responsibility on Albus's head, and for once in a long time he found it annoying. He wanted to do other things, train young Harry Potter in the finer arts of magic, and get another professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts class, research horocruxes and Voldemort's past life when he was just plain Tom Riddle… There were so many things to do and he felt his time was wasted here. Of course he had to complete his responsibilities if he wanted to solidify his political status as something of a hero.

His fame was useful, very much so. When he wanted aurors to help out with one of the Order of the Phoenix's missions, they would drop everything and come. Out of some hero worship, something to that extent. Otherwise, Dumbledore preferred obscurity. It concealed his actions and let him concentrate better, take his plans farther, but he didn't think he would be out of the public eye for a long long time.

He walked down the street, and to the front of Gringotts where he noted the Order guards he had posted: Kingsley and Tonks. They looked fretful and a bit worried. Dumbledore sighed, another problem on his head. Didn't he have enough already? He went over to them, noted with a slight hint of pleasure that Tonks' hair was purple with green spots (his favourite color) and smiled.

His smile held comfort, safety, and a bit of magical enhancement as well. It was the hardest thing in the world to communicate safety and happiness through your expression magically but Albus did it through his power of concentration. "Fine day, isn't it, Nimphadora?"

"Albus! We have to talk to you about-"

"It can wait, my dear. Would you two like to get a cup of ice cream with me after I finish my business in Gringotts?" He said peacefully, his blue eyes shining like pinpoints, looking into their minds. With a sinking feeling, he knew already what they were going to say.

"No Albus, its Harry! He's been kidnapped." Kingsley blurted out.

"What?" Albus said, "Could you please repeat that. I am afraid I have gone a bit deaf." Albus wished this was a prank but he knew better. Stop delaying it, you old coot. He said to himself.

"Harry Potter is not at the Dursleys anymore!" Kingsley said. "We don't know where the hell he is. Stupid Dung was asleep on the job, when Moody came and found him lying on the grass, curled up like he was taking a nap he cursed the hell out of-"

"Come," Albus said firmly. He was alert and tense, the old comforting grandfather persona was gone, replaced with a hard warrior who had faced tough times. "We need to go to Privet Drive."

"Sure." They said agreeably and with a bit of relief as well.

They apparrated out and with a pop landed in front of Petunia and Vernon's neat, immaculate house. Petunia was in the garden, pulling weeds, wearing thin yellow gloves that you get in the grocery store down the corner, and Dudley was sipping a glass of lemonade, and was hunched over a handheld gaming device.

"Excuse me," Dumbledore said, flanked on either side by grim faced Tonks and Kingsley. "Mrs Dursley, but I am looking for Harry."

Petunia's head whirled around and she leapt back, screaming a bit. "It's you! Another one of-"

"Harry." Dumbledore said firmly, and she quietened at once. "Where is Harry. Did you see him today?"

"No, when I woke up he was gone," Petunia said flaccidly, like she was about to fall asleep. That was thanks to a slight mind charm by Dumbledore.

"I see." Dumbledore said. "We won't get anything further, I think we should depart to my office. Would you two join me?"

"Don't you want to question her further?" Kingsley said uncertainly.

"No need." Dumbledore said grimly. "No need at all. I have a tracker device that will let me know the location of Harry's whereabouts. We need to assemble the order at once. Tonks can you apparrate to the Weasleys and have them floo to Hogwarts?"

Tonks nodded. "Okay headmaster."

"And Kingsley, you come with me." He said. "When you are done with the Weasleys can you get the Madame Bones, head of the-"

"Sure," Tonks said and apparrated out.

"Come, Kingsley. We have a search at hand."

---------

Adam McDougal, a half blood death eater, was standing guard just outside Potter's relative's house. He was in the neighbour's lawn and he noticed with some distaste Mundungus Fletcher, stumbling like he was drunk. Dung took up position behind a tree and waved an invisibility cloak over his head. It shimmered.

"How unprofessional," Adam thought aloud. He was a very methodical person, always patient, never hurrying. He was one of Voldemort's most favoured, right there along with Malfoy but for completely different reasons. When Voldemort gave missions, and he gave a lot of missions, Adam had the highest success rate: 100 percent. No matter how easy or how hard, Adam would get it done perfectly, but slowly. Dealing with giants? Sure. Taking envoys to the vampires? Been there done that. Assassinations? My favourite.

And now he was standing guard outside the little shit's home. This was embarrassing to say the least. There he was, one of Voldemort's top henchmen, and now he was at the lowest of the low. The bottom pit of the barrel. He was a guard now. There was nothing lower than this. He considered briefly just taking Dung out. He knew who the man was after all, he had memorized each and every face of the Order's known members (and had killed some as well). But that wasn't his job. And Adam was a perfectionist. He would take no self directed initiative, and he would do the job, but do it well.

He stood still as a statue, a cooling charm under the invisibility cloak he was wearing to protect himself from the hot sun. And he watched carefully, noting carefully Petunia looking from the curtains, probably to spy on the neighbours, Mr Vernon Dursley pulling out of the drive way in his brand new red Cadillac, going to work at the Drills factory. But what he didn't see, much to his consternation was Harry Potter himself. He had to hand it to the boy, he was careful. He saw a glimpse, a blur that might have been Potter but it was gone faster than he could blink. The boy looked once and bang, he was gone.

Voldemort had so much trouble with this boy. Adam wished his lord would just give him the job, 'let me kill the boy, my lord!' He had contemplated saying that so many times but always resisted. Potter was a matter of pride for Voldemort, and pride was the most important thing to someone like his lord. Anyone who changed their names to Lord something had a lot of pride, that was obvious.

He was bored, he stood there for four hours at least until finally something happened. Something that did not bode well for him. Moody apparrated on the street, with his magical eye. At once Adam conjured a blur-wall, his own invention that would stop people from seeing through invisibility cloaks. Voldemort had rewarded him well for this, thirty thousand galleons just about.

Moody's magical round eyeball whirled around the house, taking it all in. Then suddenly he gasped. Adam leaned in closer. What was happening? He wondered, did something go wrong? Moody looked angry, furious in fact as his real eye narrowed and he looked all over the street, turning around like a merry-go-round. Then he leapt behind the tree and ripped the cloak off Dung. He was yelling at Dung. Adam cast a hearing aid charm on his ear so he could listen in.

"You useless pile of filth! Look what happened on your watch, you piece of shit. Harry is gone! Kidnapped or something! He wouldn't go out, he had specific orders to stay in. What the hell do you think happened?"

Dung was squeeling like a baby, "I didn't do nothing, I swear!"

"Hell yaw you did nothing. That's the problem. Look!" Moody dragged Dung inside. Adam debated going inside but the risk was too high and Adam hated to gamble. But obviously something had happened. Harry Potter was gone, Moody had said. Kidnapped. Or just run away. Adam wouldn't put it past the boy, a cunning enough person to have evaded the dark lord for so long.

He sighed, now he would have the job of telling Voldemort what had happened. And on his watch too! What Moody was doing to Dung would be nothing compared to what Voldemort would do to him.

-------

I want more reviews!


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

* * *

Greyback observed Harry Potter very carefully, judging how far he had come along on his training. The boy was quite apt with the physical aspects of his training, and his magical skills were steadily improving as well – His spells were stronger, more focused and concentrated, and he finally had an aura about him. A slight one that Greyback had to strain to sense but he could sense it nontheless. That was a good sign for Harry; He was getting more powerful.

For Greyback however, it did not bode well. The boy with his naïve expression on his face, dull green eyes that held no suspicion or cunning, just a regular boy. Indeed the babies he bit when he was in wolf form were at a better level than Harry. But the boy tried, and he had quite a few tricks up his sleeve as well. The imperio curse was a stroke of genius, Greyback should have thought of it earlier but – and he was ashamed to admit – he was never good with the wand, he had to teach himself, having never been to Hogwarts.

And the paintings. Harry and Greyback had went to the pawn shop down town in Cannes, and speaking expert French thanks to a little translation charm Harry had learnt from his growing collection of books, he had managed to sell two paintings. Only two. But that was how many he tried to sell in the first place, "Don't want to flood the market," Harry had replied when Greyback asked why.

The profit had been astounding. The two paintings, a Bach and a Gordeon, had been originals, and quite rare. Fifty thousand francs for each, which amounted to about ten thousand galleons in total. Harry had used them all to buy books, a few extra wands, more books, a lot of clothes like he was trying to fill up a king's wardrobe, contact lenses, etc. He had used up all of the money and what really got to Greyback was that Harry had not saved any for himself. Didn't he deserve a share?

Harry was swimming steadily, far out on the ocean waters. There were people everywhere, mostly tourists, running around on the sand, making sand castles, splashing around in water. Greyback was sunbathing with a little coconut drink at his side that he had gotten for a cheap price at a little corner stand. He had spent it with his own money. That's what got to Greyback. Sure a thousand galleons was nice and all, but Harry had probably over a hundred paintings in that house, and that equaled a monstorous amount of profits.

Greyback wanted in. He wanted it all and for that, Harry needed to die. Simple as that. But if Greyback failed to try his best protecting Harry, well, he would die as well thanks to that damn wizarding oath. Honestly, why the hell did he take that oath. It was as his mother had said, "Think before you do, Mister!" And with that a smack on the head, and that happened every time when he was a clumsy little boy. Not yet a werewolf.

The full moon was only two days away, and Greyback did on the full moon what he did best: Increase the werewolf population. Some people didn't appreciate that, complete nonsense. Being a werewolf was the best thing in the world… as long as you accepted yourself. Greyback loved it, and as his mother had said, "Share with your brothers!" (And with that a smack on the head, Greyback was so glad he killed them all).

So Greyback hoped that Voldemort would kill Harry. Then he could flee. He would not, could not, and would never return to the dark lord. Not in a long shot. His mark on his left arm burned tremendously, a sensation alike to pouring a batch of hot oil on your arm. It burned and at night puss formed around the mark. He bled. He took the pain without a flinch, welcoming it almost, and using it to strenthen his resolve.

He did not sleep. Harry noticed of course, and when he asked Greyback why, Greyback replied with a slight grunt. He trained hard in the Yoga studio with his butcher knife, just slashing and practicing different forms. All night every night. He only got four hours of sleep and that was usually when sunbathing. (He had a magic cream to prevent sunburns, if he could sell that he wouldn't need paintings…)

But now he couldn't sleep. So he watched, his eyes squinted to block out the glare of the sun. Harry swum steadily in laps, a determined expression on his face. Greyback hated that face, that look of stubornness and he often tried to beat it out of Harry in their training sessions. But Harry was a true man, he took the pain with little whining. There was some but Greyback put a stop to it at once with a quick smack to the head. Harry was stubborn though, always getting up and never backing down. Honestly, it scared Greyback a bit.

Harry was progressing so fast that he _might _surpass Greyback himself. The old werewolf. And that scared him right to the bone, making his body go cold despite the hot summer weather. As long as he was the most powerful of the two he always had the upper hand. But now, Harry was catching up.

What Greyback needed was one of thhose ideas Harry always came up with. A stroke of genius just for him.

As if granted by God or some higher power, the idea came. It came gradullay in vague blurs that got clearer and clearer as he considered possiblitites. And the idea was formed:

Two nights later, when Greyback would transform into a werewolf, he would go on a MASS hunting spree. Get each and every child, adult, and human being in Cannes. Bite them with a fury that would scare the entire world into submission, Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort, everyone.

For that he needed the Wolfsbane potion. He needed to have perfect control over his actions. He needed to be efficent and quick, do a little Blitzkerieg. Charge, bite, run, bite someone else. In a logical order.

He started planning, he would need maps to perfect the most efficent route of attack, he would need Harry restrained so the boy wouldn't interfere, and he would need the Wolfsbane potion. And he had only two days!

(There is work to be done no time for fun no time for sun come now there is work to be done) The rhyme played in his head like a tape recorder. His mother had sung it often enough when she wanted chores to be done: chopping wood, cleaning the chimney, the hard ones. And she always said in a stern voice, "Work your best young man. No fooling around." She was a big woman and rather intimidating. When he left the house, her blood on his hands, he had never ventured into the world of hard work. He preffered booze, drinks, girls in scanty clothing rather than plain dugery.

He hadn't worked his best for a long time.

No time like the present to start. He got up and left the towel he had been laying on on the ground, put on his shirt, went to the beachside where he found a little news stand and from there he bought a map book of the entire island of Cannes.

_There are going to be howls in the wind tonight!_ Greyback thought with a smirk.


End file.
